


Waiting For You

by thegraeyone



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Short & Sweet, professional duelist joey wheeler rights
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:47:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27422194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegraeyone/pseuds/thegraeyone
Summary: At the end of a long day, Joey Wheeler finds himself waiting.
Relationships: Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler/Kaiba Seto
Comments: 4
Kudos: 58





	Waiting For You

**Author's Note:**

> Another short piece I wrote as a prompt forever ago and am dragging out now as I need something light and soft.

Joey let out a breath as the reporter finished her interview and moved onto one of the other duelists. The tournament had been a long one, and Yugi was overwhelmed with questions that he answered with his usual enthusiastic smile and humble attitude. Joey had come in third after battling him, and his gaze drew to the second place winner. Kaiba kept his cold veneer on as he ignored questions to talk about the newest version of the duel disk being released just in time for Christmas. Yugi said something to him that made the room laugh and Kaiba roll his eyes. His gaze caught Joey’s, and Joey smiled. Yugi raised a hand over the reporters around him, still the shortest person in the room, waving enthusiastically at him.

“Yugi taught me everything I know,” was his usual sound bite as he pressed an affectionate noogie to his best friend’s head.

Yugi grinned up at him. “You almost had me this time.”

“I think you oughtta save your words for Kaiba over there,” Joey said with a laugh.

Kaiba had been ignoring the display between the two, but that caught his attention. He let out a huff, smoothing down the white of his coat. “I don’t need comfort. It was a fair duel.”

“It was lots of fun,” Yugi said, giving Kaiba his biggest smile.

Joey couldn’t stop the snort that escaped through his nose. He nudged his friend, who only gave him an innocent look. The patter continued for a while, with Kaiba standing apart from them so he could properly promote the next KC event, and Yugi and Joey finally managed to escape into the empty halls of the arena. Away from the cameras and reporters, Yugi relaxed. Joey was grateful he never had a persona to protect, not like the other two.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go out?” Yugi asked as they followed the hall to the back of the building. “He’ll probably be a while.”

Joey shrugged. “It’s an early flight tomorrow anyway. You should celebrate.”

“Alright.” Yugi raised a fist, and they bapped their arms together. “Text me if you get bored.”

Joey waved him off and remained by the door. He recognized nearly everyone who came in and out, saying goodbye to the now teenaged Rebecca, and even garnering a fist bump from Rex as he and Weevil headed out to celebrate the end of the tournament together. Isono shared a cigarette with him outside, and they chatted a while about his wife and the kids and the joys of first grade. Joey wasn’t surprised when he headed back in that Kaiba appeared only ten minutes later. He was still in CEO mode, Joey noted, the white coat waving behind him, a stern expression hardening his face. He looked at Joey as he pushed open the doors. Joey grinned up at him.

“I thought you were going with Yugi,” he said.

Joey shrugged, stubbing out the last cigarette. “I decided to wait.”

Kaiba’s scowl deepened, and he only gave a nod to the driver, who opened the door for him. His eyes met Joey’s expectantly, and he sighed as he pushed off the wall. His hand brushed Seto's sleeve as he moved to the car door, and he leaned into the touch like a tired man looking for relief. He followed close behind, and as soon as the door shut behind him, his fingers were threaded into Joey’s hair. Joey didn’t hesitate to lean forward and kiss him affectionately. The tension Seto carried released all at once, a contented sigh swallowed up by Joey’s lips.

“If I’d known,” Seto said as they settled into the seats, “I wouldn’t have talked so much.”

“You love talking.” Joey smiled as Seto's fingers curled around his, and he rested his head against his shoulder. “It’s like top three of your favorite activities.”

“Shut up,” he murmured, and there was no bite to his tone as he buried his face in Joey’s hair.

“You know,” Joey said, “I thought tournaments might be more fun if we were sneaking around. But today took hours.”

They’d barely seen each other since arriving at the arena, and when they did, the room was filled with other duelists, or reporters, or cameras. Seto valued his privacy and Joey didn’t blame him for not wanting to see his dating life plastered across tabloids, but every time Seto had that stupid smirk on his face, it was so hard not to kiss it off, and that was constant at these things. The only benefit was that their time alone was spent as close as possible, as though they could save up the affection for the next time they had to be across the room from each other, pretending the other wasn’t there.

“Does it bother you?” Seto asked, and when Joey looked up at him, his face was an open question.

“Only because I like touching you so much,” he said, sliding a hand under his coat in case he didn’t get his meaning. “But I don’t mind waiting.”

Seto's lips parted with a thought, but Joey kissed him again. If he got started now, it’d never end, and he had a six am flight. They had to use their time wisely. Kaiba didn’t protest anyway as he leaned into him. Some things were worth waiting for.


End file.
